The Language of Intuition

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Thanks, Claudette Rowley
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The Language of Intuition
Claudette Rowley
Copyright 2004

"Like an ability or muscle, hearing your inner wisdom is
strengthened by doing it."
- Robbie Gass

Last week I was speaking with a client about the language of
intuition, and how it's a language that we can learn to
understand just like Spanish or Chinese. When we first hear a
foreign language, it either sounds interesting but meaningless
or we ignore what we hear because it doesn't spark
comprehension.

Deciphering the language of intuition can be a lot like that. At
first, you might not even be aware of what you're hearing. Or
you notice something, but "it sounds like Greek" to you. For
some of us, learning a foreign language comes easily. And for
some of us, knowing the language of intuition is innate. The
rest of us have to work a little harder.

There are general ways of tuning in to your intuition: for
example, paying attention to a gut feeling, a dream, or a song
lyric that pops into your head. However these are simply portals
into your own knowledge of your intuitive voice. Intuition is
truly a "sixth sense" - it's as available to you as your sight,
hearing, taste, touch or smell. In other words, intuition is
largely a form of sensory knowledge. Just the like the other
five senses, it's a felt knowledge that has very little to do
with your mental capability, and its interpretation is
individual. For instance, how do I know that an orange tastes
the same to me as it does to you?

What's the dialect of your intuition?

Becoming acquainted with your intuitive voice is a personal
experience, and may involve a widening of your perspective about
what intuition is. We often think of intuition coming in
dramatic "flashes." Intuition may also come in the form of
strong physical sensations or images. For example, I had a
conversation with a woman who recounted feeling strongly pulled
to move to the U.S. Whenever she resisted this urge to move
from her home country to the U.S., she literally felt punched in
the stomach. Once she made the monumental decision to move, the
stomach-punching stopped. She firmly believed that this physical
sensation was the work of her intuition.

Most frequently, though, intuition shows up in the dialect of
the ordinary. Ordinary, everyday intuition usually doesn't set
off fireworks or make the 6 o'clock news. Everyday intuition
often takes the form of a seemingly fleeting inner comment such
as "I really should call Ken and tell him about my new business
idea," or "You know, every time I drive by that restaurant, I
feel compelled to stop." We often dismiss these comments for
two reasons: Intuition doesn't necessarily inform us in advance
why it's important to do or say something, and soon after we
hear an intuitive comment, our inner critic jumps in to say, "Now
there's a stupid idea."

How can I get to know my individual intuitive dialect?

- Notice the fleeting inner comments. Experiment with following
the direction of these messages even when your inner critic
makes a judgmental comment.

- What seems persistent or insistent in your life? That may be
your intuition talking to you.

- View intuition as a sixth sense. Use it as you would your eyes,
ears, nose, mouth or skin.

- Ask your intuition a question and listen for an answer. That
answer will come from your intuition.

- Notice if your body is intuitive. Do you get a pain in your
neck when something is a "pain in the neck?" Sometimes I
develop headaches when there's something I don't want to think
about or when I think too much. Both are intuitive messages.

- Use your energy levels as a barometer. As your energy rises,
plummets, shifts, centers, grounds or ungrounds you, what do
you notice? Energy and intuition are intimately connected.

Become acquainted with your intuition; view it as an immensely
informative language to learn. The difference between learning
a spoken language such as Portugese and learning the language of
intuition is that learning Portugese requires external resources
while intuition requires only the internal. You have all the
tools you need to learn your own intuitive dialect. With
practice, you'll be fluent!